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Newswise — Each fall, parents pack their college freshmen off to school, fingers crossed for a solid start on the road to adulthood. But some students don’t find their footing and return home after a semester or two to regroup.

“People with vulnerability towards depression and anxiety frequently experience the onset of such disorders around age 18,” said Emanuel Maidenberg, a clinical professor of psychiatry and director of the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Clinic at UCLA’s Semel Institute. “Specific mechanisms are not known, but are likely associated with increased stress from the transition to independent living, new social circles and academic pressures.”

Maidenberg is available to talk about depression in college students and its role in so-called “failure to launch” syndrome, in which a young adult’s momentum fizzles after he or she leaves home for the first time.